Monday, August 21, 2017

Sharing Sweetness

Dear Sawyer,

You are very interested in babies right now. You always perk up when you see one on TV or on my Facebook feed, point to it, smile and exclaim, "Baby!" You also like to carry around baby dolls and pretend to take care of them, so you can imagine how excited you were when your friend Ando met us at the park yesterday with his parents and his brand-new, three-week-old baby sister Luci. She was in her stroller with a blanket draped over her and you and JieJie (who is also fascinated with babies) kept peeking underneath the blanket to get a look at her. The two of you wouldn't leave her side and you kept pointing to her in awe and saying, "Baby!" When she got upset, you said, "Uh-oh baby cry!"

The sweetest moment came when Ando shared some of his cookies with you. You took one and instead of eating it yourself, you ran over to Luci and tried to put it in her mouth! Her mom stopped you and explained that Luci can only have milk now but you kept persisting, trying to share your cookie with her and saying, "See baby." SO. ADORABLE!

Love,
Mom

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Wait Mama

Dear Sawyer,

Recent happenings in Sawyer-ville:

-Last Friday, PoiPoi and GongGong watched you while Daddy and I took GuhGaw and JieJie to their checkup. When we came home, you were sitting on the bottom of the staircase. PoiPoi said that you had sat down, told her to sit down next to you and said, "Wait [for] Mama."

-You still want me all to yourself. When you see Daddy and me hugging, you squeeze in between our legs, wrap your arms around me and say, "Hug!" When the three of us were sitting on the couch the other night, you kept pushing Daddy's hand off of my leg and replacing it with yours.

-You are obsessed with closing things: drawers, your baby gates, doors. Whenever you walk in or out of the room, you have to "clo door."

-You are also fascinated by the red light that comes on when we turn on the dishwasher. It shines a red spot onto the kitchen floor and you like to step on it with your foot or peer up underneath the dishwasher door to see where the red light is coming from.

-When I am eating something you want, you say, "Have some!"

-You are so sweet to JieJie. When she hurt her knee the other day and started crying, you tipped your head and asked in a high-pitched voice, "Happen?" When she said her knee hurt, you hugged her. And when she woke up the one night after having a nightmare and started crying, you ran and got her a tissue. Such a good brother!

Love,
Mom

Monday, August 7, 2017

Self Starter

Dear Sawyer,

Your poor neglected high chair has slowly been collecting dust in the corner of our dining room because you haven't sat in it for almost a month. Whenever I try to put you in it, you resist and say, "Too big"--as in, you are too big to sit in a high chair! So now you sit at the dining table in a regular chair like the rest of us and there seems to be no going back!

And you have decided that you are also "too big" to hold my hand when you go up and down the stairs. Before, you insisted that I hold your hand or pick you up and carry you. Now, you hold onto the railing and steadily climb up or down. If I try to hold your hand, you push it away and say, "Self"--as in, I can do it myself. What happened to my helpless little newborn?!

Love,
Mom

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Million-Dollar Smile

Dear Sawyer,

An afternoon playing with your water table + chocolate peanut butter banana cake = one very happy Sawyer!


Love,
Mom

Friday, August 4, 2017

That Bites

Dear Sawyer,

Okay, I don't know why this whole biting thing started but it has to STOP. You and JieJie were fighting over a toy today and when she wouldn't give it to you, you lifted up her shirt and bit her! And not only that, you bit her so hard, she bled! NOT okay, Sawyer!

But after I talked to you about how biting hurts, you did go up to JieJie, said you were sorry and gave her a hug.

Love,
Mom

Thursday, August 3, 2017

First Tantrum

Dear Sawyer,

Uh-oh. You have been in your "twos" for two months now and I saw the "terrible" part today when you threw your first major tantrum.

I always put you down for a nap around 11:30 in the morning and it's never really an issue because you're usually tired then. But JieJie was home today and you were playing Legos with her and you didn't want to stop to go to sleep. You had to sleep, though, or else you would be super-tired in the afternoon, so I tried to lead you out of JieJie's room. You didn't want to come with me and started crying when I said it was time to nap, so I picked you up and carried you to your room. And that's when you really let me have it. You cried, screamed, threw toys, shook your gate, tried to knock over your fan and even tried to bite me. Excuse me?!? Are we biting now??? I firmly told you not to bite, walked over to the other side of the room and let you cry. After a few minutes, you stopped crying and went and hid behind your dresser. I could hear you taking deep, heavy, post-crying breaths and I walked over to you but when you saw me, you got mad and shouted at me, "No no no!" I said I'd leave you alone but I'd be sitting on the bed if you wanted me. After another minute, you slowly walked out from behind the dresser, stretched your arms out toward me and said meekly, "Mama."

I wrapped you in my arms, you hugged me back and then you looked up at me and smiled--my sweet little baby was back :-)

Love,
Mom